CORP ANNOUNCEMENT / Solana Petroleum Corp. - Veteran Oil Executives Launch
Colombia Oil Operation
CALGARY, Dec. 29 /CNW/ - A team of internationally experienced oil
executives has launched an exploration and development project in one of the
most promising oil regions in the western world.
James B. Taylor, former executive vice president of Occidental Oil and
Gas Corporation, is leading the team of international oil veterans planning
work in two high-potential regions in northeastern Colombia, near some of the
country's most prolific oil fields.
Mr. Taylor is chairman of Calgary-based Solana Petroleum Corp. which has
substantial interests in two association contracts in the Llanos Basin, being
finalized with Colombia's state oil company, Ecopetrol. The basin is
estimated to contain up to 25 billion barrels of crude oil in place. Both
areas are adjacent to producing fields and pipelines.
''To my way of thinking, it's difficult to avoid becoming overly
optimistic with our prospects there,'' said Mr. Taylor, ''But we must remind
ourselves that everything in this business has to be taken as speculative
until we have established production and proven reserves.''
On January 14, Mr. Taylor will present the Company's plans in New York to
a by-invitation-only conference of oil and gas investors, the Westergaard
Strain Oil and Gas Investor Conference at the Waldorf Astoria.
Solana has concluded agreements to acquire a 38.125 percent working
interest in the Tapir area of the Llanos Basin and a 50 percent working
interest in the Cano Caranal area, and is awaiting formal approvals of the
assignments with Ecopetrol. Mohave Colombia Corporation, a subsidiary of
privately-owned Mohave Oil and Gas Corporation, is the operator of both
projects - while Doreal Energy Corporation and Seven Seas Petroleum Inc. are
partners in the Tapir project.
Mr. Taylor said test results are expected in early 1999 from a well
drilled in 1998 in the Tapir area. Two more exploration wells are scheduled
in 1999, with drilling on the first to begin after the rainy season ends.
Solana secured interests in the Tapir and Cano Caranal association
contracts in the first half of 1998, as the business and political climate
increasingly favored exploration in Colombia. There are now more than 65
companies operating in the country under an estimated 100 association
contracts with Ecopetrol in various stages of exploration and development.
Mr. Taylor said any production established in either block will have
ready access to markets. The Llanos Basin is served by pipelines with excess
capacity available that pass through both of Solana's blocks and end at the
Caribbean oil terminal in the port city of Covenas.
Solana Petroleum Corp. became public on the Alberta Stock Exchange in
November 1998 to raise capital for the exploration and development of three
initial wells.
Mr. Taylor leads a team with many years of on-site experience in Colombia
and other oil-producing regions around the world, with companies such as
Occidental, Shell, Texaco, Arakis and British Petroleum.
The Solana board and executive include President & CEO J. Bruce
Carruthers II, former head of Occidental's international trade/countertrade
operations who also worked in Colombia as manager of petroleum supply; Oscar
A. Blake, Solana vice president business development and former Occidental
executive vice president and general counsel, and Raymond P. Cej, a former
senior executive at Shell who was president and CEO of Arakis Energy Corp.
until it was acquired by Talisman Energy last fall.
Solana Petroleum Corp. is a Calgary-based international oil and gas
exploration and development company currently focusing on its interests in
Colombia. The Company's common shares are listed on the Alberta Stock
Exchange and trade under the symbol SOP. |
